Friday, May 27, 2005

Sometimes even I win things....such as an xfm competition to see "Sin City" at The Rex, which is an "exclusive members club with cinema" in Soho. Well, I'd planned to see the film anyway, and oh, might as well admit it, I was also enticed by the phrase "The film is to be introduced by Brittany Murphy and Jessica Alba so you won't want to be late." Hah! Yeah, a video introduction...how cheated do I feel....

Sin City is an adaptation of the comic book (or graphic novel, if you prefer ;) . It's all guns and girls and one-liners in the midst of mayhem. There isn't really a great deal to say about the film, since it's pretty much what you'd expect a (good) comic book adaptation to be: nothing too deep and meaningful, but plenty of action. It also has a weird and wonderful look, which at times leaves you wondering whether it's live action, CGI or animation. Most of the film is monochrome with colour used sparingly (a girl's eyes; blood on a face) which makes for some stunning visuals.

One problem I did have with the film is that I kept expecting the stories to merge at some point and they don't. It's more like "Tales from Sin City" where the viewer is given glimpses of the life of these weird characters.

Not one for the kiddies, it's unashamedly violent and old fashionedly sexist, in a film noir sense. Excellent fun.

Slightly ashamed about finding this funny, but enjoyed the Sun's headline on Friday: Bush Probes Sadam's Pants. Sub-head was something along the lines of 'He's determined to get to the bottom of it'. It has become Viz. (This in response to their picture of Hussein in underwear on the previous day.)

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

- arguments for Scottish independence vs devolution- the open source brewery- the new political landscape- the work-life balance- whether God is a fascist or not and if e=mc2 describes or governs the universe- existentialist teleology

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Final part of a new yorker 3-parter on global warming. Also, did you see the Tony Blair profile, reprinted in the Observer on Sunday? Like most New Yorker features, about twice as long as it could have been, but quite interesting on the Iraq stuff...